ITV

Tag: Mumbai

  • Bajaj Allianz launches campaign with F1 driver Nico Rosberg

    Bajaj Allianz launches campaign with F1 driver Nico Rosberg

    MUMBAI: Bajaj Allianz, the life and general insurance company, has launched an 8-city ‘Drive Safely‘ campaign across India with Mercedes GP Petronas F1 driver Nico Rosberg coinciding with the first ever Indian Grand Prix Formula One race scheduled at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh (the 17th race of the 2011 Formula One season) on 30 October.

    The campaign includes Bajaj Allianz Safe Zone at select petrol pumps, mall and HNI Club activation programmes as well as a unique Pit Stop activation programme spread between 3-5 days in each city. Winners of various contests will get to meet and greet Rosberg.

    As part of the campaign, a branded mobile vehicle will visit high visibility and footfall spots in all the eight cities. At selected venues, LCD screens will be placed showcasing F1 Team Mercedes and tips for safe driving.

    An interactive branded Zone (Kiosk) will also be created at the event called as “Bajaj Allianz Safe Zone”, which will promote Bajaj Allianz‘s ‘Safety’ commitment towards drive safely particularly amongst the car owners across the country. Inside the Bajaj Allianz Safe Zone, an emcee will engage the crowd with interactive games such as an insurance and F1 Quiz; Jigsaw puzzle of the Bajaj Allianz logo for recall; Snakes & Ladder – created in the shape of a life cycle with numbers symbolising age and snakes as problems at diff stages of life with BA solutions. Insurance consultants will also interact with the consumers inside the zone and promote live safe theme.

    At various petrol pumps in the cities and on the expressways, a special Bajaj Allianz Pit Stop will be created for car checks creating an ambience of a normal pit stop in F1. All the cars visiting the petrol pump will be given free check at the Pit Stop within two minutes while highlighting the safety proposition of Bajaj Allianz towards customers. Services provided within two minutes at the Pit Stop would be: air check, oil check, wiper water check, wind screen and rear screen cleaning and coolant check. One promoter and two technicians will provide car owners with an experience similar to the F1 pit stop concept to create an excitement amongst 4-wheeler owners. An insurance policy scan of the vehicles will be done through scanners. After the scan, a safety contest will happen and Bajaj Allianz safety stickers will be given as spot prizes. The grand prize will be F1 tickets.

    The month-long campaign, which started on 27 September, has already covered Hyderabad, Chennai and Kochi, and will go to Mumbai (16-18 October), Bangalore (9-11 October), Pune (13-15 October), Ahmedabad (20-22 October) and New Delhi (25-30 October).

    Bajaj Allianz also plans an aggressive social media campaign to promote the campaign. It will leverage an online social game around racing and safe driving. The online game will serve as a platform to generate leads for future sales endeavours and will also enable an increased reach for the campaign owing to its viral nature.

    The FaceBook activities will create a buzz around the offline activities that will take place through live and interactive videos, quizzes, etc. From an online sales perspective, the campaign will also aim to boost online sales during the campaign period by giving away free merchandise to customers. A Bajaj Allianz contest will run on radio relating to F1 and safe driving. Winners stand a chance to win F1 merchandise and meet F1 race driver Rosberg. Outdoor bus branding and cinema advertising will also be used to promote the activity.

     
     
     

  • Jo Hum Chahe to release on 18 November

    Jo Hum Chahe to release on 18 November

    MUMBAI: Aman Gill‘s maiden film Jo Hum Chahe will release on 18 November.


    The film is a modern coming of age romance that reflects the current urban landscape of contemporary India focusing on the aspirations of the youth and what they do to achieve their desires.
     
    The film has been written and directed by debutant Pawan Gill, earlier first assistant director at Yash Raj Films from 2005-2007.


    Jo Hum Chahe, shot in Mumbai, Goa, Pune and Ladakh, will see the acting debut of Sunny Gill and Simran Kaur Mundi.


    Gill used to earlier look after film acquisitions and domestic film distribution at Studio18.

  • Jaipur fest to pay tribute to Jag Mundhra

    Jaipur fest to pay tribute to Jag Mundhra


    MUMBAI: Paying tribute to Jagmohan Mundhra, the Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF) has decided to host a special section of his films.


    Films that would be screened as a mark of remembrance to the noted director include Kamla, Bawandar and Provoked.


     
    Mundhra, who had his family roots in Bikaner, attended the JIFF regularly; therefore, the need to acknowledge him and his works, say the organisers.


    Festival director of JIFF Hanu Roz said, “I called him just a day before his demise and since he left a DVD of his movie with me, he asked me to send it to him in Mumbai. We spoke about his upcoming movie too.”

  • Star News launches hunt for TV news anchor

    Star News launches hunt for TV news anchor

    MUMBAI: Hindi news channel Star News has launched the first of its kind reality show on news television called Star Anchor Hunt.

    The channel will search for news talent in the country and the two winners – one male and one female – will get to be news anchors of Star News.

    Contestants will have to register on the website StarAnchorHunt.com and selected candidates will be invited for audition rounds which will take place across 10 cities: Indore, Nagpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Delhi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Jaipur.

    The contestants will be judged by Star News editor national affairs Deepak Chaurasia, actress Tisca Chopra and Chetan Bhagat – author of Five Point Someone (2004), One Night @ the Call Center (2005), The 3 Mistakes of life (2008) and 2 States-the story of my marriage (2009).

  • Happy News Year – By Times TV Group MD & CEO Sunil Lulla

    Happy News Year – By Times TV Group MD & CEO Sunil Lulla

    Good Morning and a Happy News Year. I am happy to report The News from the front lines of the news battleground. Returning after a sabbatical, it gives one a fresh perspective into what went by and what to, perhaps, expect next.

    2009 had begun on the back of the most alarming news event of the decade: the terror attacks of Mumbai.

    2009 also witnessed the biggest news event of 2009, the General Elections and an accidental death of a Chief Minister, which was widely covered.

    Not much changed in the stack up of the news channels – the #1s continued their reign respectively, Aaj Tak, Times Now and CNBC. New channels came into the offing. Some changed ownership. Regional News was the hero of the year, clocking most significant viewership…

    If I take this route ahead with this news bulletin, it would be so conventional. While I have been asked to comment on the year, which went by and what to expect in the coming year, I thought I would rather report what my candid conversation with folks connected with TV News broadcasting reveals. Turning this rewind-forward commentary, to views gathered from experts (names withheld on request) over a few candid conversations.

    1. Profitability
    Business leaders in the domain believe the big challenge is profitability. Of the listed news entities, only one network has stayed ahead, going by its public reports. Others have taken a hit! Perhaps due to the challenging financial conditions of the last two years and/or due to the increase in costs structures.

    See it any way, profitability of the TV news industry is under significant strain. This may be bad news for investment but it is also a big opportunity for businesses to spruce up their act. With over 200 news channels across all languages and genres, certainly a challenging act. A prominent investment banker believes the next two years provide opportunity for consolidation, projects some of the news networks may dither off the horizon and those focused around profitability are most likely to succeed.

    Profitability for news is not a bad term. It is essential, as firms which do not make the cut, eventually vanish and so does the editorial associated with it. Hence for the “freedom of the press” to exist, being profitable is even more essential.

    There are 4 underlying fundamentals to profitability

    Market Positioning: Each news Network has a position in the minds of its viewers. News is not vanilla. Most viewers have a choice and a repertoire and a set of channels they almost never visit. News networks need to invest in growing their position. With the wide range and choice that exists in the market place, positions can be adopted by way of brand offering and editorial experience. This is what leaders of news networks need to apply themselves to.

    Ad Revenues: The gap in revenues amongst the top 3 of top 5 is decreasing and growth of the leaders is not as significant in historical periods. Yet the category as such is not saturated. The leaders need to pick the pace. Set the standard. Up the price and ante and not crowd to the median price point.

    One of the challenges the industry faces is to learn to sell audiences and not just market shares. The quantity and quality of audiences. Not just Tam audiences, but the homes the news network reaches. This change in strategy and market-based positioning can be the sleigh on which the next Christmas fortune may be written.

    Subscription Revenues: Some of the news networks have been successful in turning “Pay”. For some the earning – learning has been lower than market potential. But strong brands can move ahead and begin to grow their revenue curve by focussing on subscription revenues.

    The worry of viewership shares is driving the channels to commit for larger ground paid connectivity. But true strong brands will find its loyal viewers ask for them. One cannot be indifferent and say news is news..that‘s why the pecking order has stayed largely stable. There are ” News Brands” and they have a demand, for which they can charge. Brands are language agnostic.

    Cost Structures: It‘s not about the quantum of costs but about the nature of the cost structure. Is this sustainable in the medium turn for businesses to be profitable? Is there potential to find cost arbitrage in the nature of news gathering and ground connectivity amongst news channels? Can local channels work co-share resources or reportage or news blocks, so prominent in the mature US markets, as an example. Each News Network has an astute understanding of what works for itself and what is rarely used, arbitrage that. Rationalize to build essential cost structures and not unsustainable ones. As an illustrative example, Is it really necessary to be in international markets, if say a channel is losing money? Is that sustainable?

    2. Editorialisation, Not Sensationalism
    The editorial independence of TV news networks continues to grow with balanced strength, Aligned to its viewers needs and to provide objectivity in news reporting. The term sensationalism is sometimes used to describe the dramatic visualisation of a story. It is not a replacement for the quality of editorialisation which continues to grow. Who will determine what is what? The editorial flow of news is committed to providing the news in a simplistic, objective manner. It must use the metaphor to create the necessary visual drama for its viewers to understand.

    News is no more simple. There are multiple views, all of which are right. There are various hierarchies: the government, justice, social justice, the lobbyist, the consumers rights, the editorial right et al. All need to be balanced and put together in a manner which is cohesive and does not tempt the remote button to be pushed.

    We acknowledge there are temptations and those may exceed the boundaries. But then social networking, blogging, independent reports etc keep flexing these boundaries and new ones get created. India has been largely balanced, informative, educative and in many recent a time, bought to the table excesses, be it of state or individual. The very same which accuse of sensationalism are those which cause it. Strange isn‘t it? When it does not suit you, the media is no more your friend?

    The media, my dear was never your friend. It is as unbiased “as a potato”, what you do with it, will give you the taste you want. News is all pervasive and has bought to society a new spectrum of information.

    3. Corridor of Collaboration
    In recent times, with the advent of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) and other cooperation measures introduced by many news networks, the industry is getting better equipped to collaborate and compete. Those who embrace this approach are likely to see better fortunes for themselves. Transparency in collaborations creates for better understanding, deters suspicion and makes for a stronger market place. Be this by way of sharing of local news with national channels or the other way around. Or news blocks on networks, co-branded or branded otherwise.

    The practice of sharing the local advertising time, via local avail, has already begun and seems to a market gainer for all. There is more to be done, as not all news networks are members of the NBA. The corridor of togetherness will drive new practices, forge collaborations and result in better profitability. As an illustrative example, connectivity costs, news gathering and sharing, best practices in terms of disciplines, new technical alliances, taxation and import policies.

    So what is the news forecast for 2010? All is well. Yet nothing much may change and there may be more bitter rather than sweet moments, unless the industry takes rapid and conscious charge of the above. I am very optimistic of the industry and so were the experts I spoke with – from editors to business leaders, to media experts, to consumers…

    The news is important and everyone wants to be in it. So hang in and make the TV news industry hang in too.

  • Wanted: More than just editors

    Wanted: More than just editors

    The Mumbai attacks, for all their tragedy and pathos, were an unparalleled television event. It was news television that became the conduit of a shocked nation‘s horror and anger as we watched the terrible spectacle unfold in our living rooms. Mumbai was to be a game-changer at many levels – diplomatic, administrative and political. A year later, as the blanket coverage of the one-year retrospectives winds up on the networks, it is time to take stock. As the media focuses attention on the slap-dash political legacy of Mumbai – with many of the central characters of 2008 back where they were in 2009 – it is also time to focus the lens back on the news networks.

    Any discussion of broadcast reform in India gets stuck between two poles: the controlling impulses of a state always looking to turn the clock back and take back lost control and the need to maintain the independence of news television. For all its flaws, the creation of the Indian satellite news industry has been a landmark struggle unparalleled in the history of global news and the fear has always been that any attempt at regulation risks throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Yet, some kind of a real watchdog there must be. In a different context, the untamed impulses of Wall Street‘s bankers that led to the global economic crisis are an example of what unbridled laissez faire can lead to. Fifteen years after the landmark Supreme Court judgment that freed the airwaves, India remains the most unregulated television market in the world and while this suits the owners and the editors in their no-holds barred quest for revenues, Mumbai underscored the need for an unbiased oversight body comprising all stakeholders more than ever.

    Two provisos need to be added here. Much of the governmental criticism of the TV networks in 2008 focused on how television became the world‘s window into the ineptitude of the Indian state – too many spokespeople, too much ground confusion and too many operational details being divulged by the then Home Minister. Let us be clear. That was not television‘s fault. The state cannot blame the messenger for its own failures. In the early hours of Mumbai, television coverage did what it was meant to do: it brilliantly captured the scramble, the confusion and the reality on the ground.

    The real problem with television coverage in the days after Mumbai was a more deep-set one that we are used to seeing in its coverage of other events as well; that of sensationalism and the new addition to the vocabulary of newsrooms: “aggressive” journalism. The networks, in varying degrees of complicity, became not outlets of information but channels of propaganda and the lowest common denominator. The same sensitivity that goes into creating the saanp-seedhi genre of news went into much of the post-Mumbai coverage with at least one top network talking seriously about the option of a first-nuclear strike on Pakistan. This was not a considered news response; this was the response of a petulant child with the candy of TRPs hanging in front.

    The post-Mumbai proposal to provide the channels only edited and pre-censored footage of emergency situations was preposterous and was rightly opposed by TV editors and all those who believe in the institution of the free press. But it should also have been a moment to pause and consider how much of this statist counter-reaction was a result of TV‘s own impetuosity. What we have in the form of oversight today in news television is tall promises of self-regulation that are given with seeming sincerity but always fall prey to the weekly tyranny of ratings. Mumbai should have been an opportunity for genuine reform, one that seems lost.

    Ambika Soni‘s relatively benign and thoughtful attitude to news must not lead TV owners and editors into a comfort zone of complacency. Personalities come and go but the problem with satellite television regulation is structural, one that goes into the heart of the unique manner in which the industry grew in its initial years as an illegal medium. There is still no overarching regulatory body to oversee broadcasting issues. There is no Indian equivalent of the American Federal Communication Commission and Indian broadcasting remains highly unregulated. Compared to other developed television markets Indian broadcasting exists within a highly confusing maze of overlapping controls. For instance, India is one of the few developed TV markets with no cross-media ownership laws. Such a state of affairs, at a time when India is fast emerging as a new global media capital cannot be sustainable.

    In a sense, Indian television has continued to operate in a legal framework that is more akin to that utterly untranslatable North Indian word: jugaad. Jaipal Reddy‘s Broadcasting Bill of 1997 was based on British law after studying the broadcasting systems of six countries – USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Australia – and sought to create a new legal structure for broadcasting but disappeared into oblivion when the Gujral government fell. Priyaranjan Dasmunshi‘s draconian version of such a Bill is now on the backburner. Since the 1995 Cable Networks Regulation Act (which has limited uses), Parliament has only managed to pass one major broadcasting-related bill – the 2007 Act on mandatory sharing of sports feeds. And that only passed because of the immense drawing power of cricket.

    The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has periodically tried to fill the regulatory vacuum with draft legislation and summary executive directives/notifications, most of these designed to assert its control. It has consistently tried to put the genie of broadcasting back into the bottle. Looking at it from a historic perspective, the contentious twists and turns over CAS and the news uplinking policy changes when NDTV bifurcated from Star News are perfect examples of the minefield that is the current broadcasting legal framework.

    War, they say, should never be left to the generals alone. Television, similarly, is too pervasive an influence to be left to the judgment of the industry itself. A year after Mumbai, the need for a genuinely impartial authority to balance the content and regulatory oversight that Indian broadcasting desperately needs is being felt even more. 

    (Nalin Mehta is the author of India on Television and a founding editor of the Routledge journal South Asian History and Culture)

  • TV9 launches city-centric channels in Mumbai and Bangalore

    TV9 launches city-centric channels in Mumbai and Bangalore

    MUMBAI: Beating the recession, Hyderabad-based Associated Broadcasting Company Ltd (ABCL), which operates news channels under the brand name TV9, is investing Rs 380 million to launch two city-centric news channels in Mumbai and Bangalore.

    TV9 Mumbai and News 9, the channels for Mumbai and Bangalore, will be launched simultaneously on 9 January.

    ABCL will invest Rs 220 million in the Hindi news channel TV9 Mumbai and Rs 160 million in the English news channel News 9.

    “We are investing Rs 380 million and will be launching the two city-centric channels tomorrow,” ABCL vice president operations KVN Murthy tells Indiantelevision.com.

    TV9 will follow up the launch of TV9 Mumbai with Bollywood news channel Lehrein. “We are adding three channels in the quarter to take our total number of channels to eight,” says Murthy.

    With the launch of News 9, the group will, thus, have two news channels in Karnataka. “News 9 will be targeted at the upmarket, young audiences in Bangalore. It will complement our Kannada news channel,” says Murthy.

    TV9 Mumbai will have 70 per cent of its programming on news and current affairs while the balance 30 per cent will be a mix of lifestyle and entertainment news content.

  • CNN-IBN to air season two of ‘Citizens for Earth’ from 10 January

    CNN-IBN to air season two of ‘Citizens for Earth’ from 10 January

    MUMBAI: CNN-IBN is set to air the second season of its flagship series Citizen for Earth from 10 January.

    The series will consist of five episodes which will be aired every Saturday at 9.30 pm and Sunday at 11.30 am and 5.30 pm.

    Says IBN18 Network editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai, “Wildlife really is the untamed natural essence of our environment. India, the land of diversity with its immense variety of flora and fauna, is the ideal place for the wildlife enthusiasts. But today many fascinating species are endangered and it is important to save them. The second season of Citizens for Earth is an effort to work towards not only enlightening our viewers but also highlighting the people who have contributed in saving the endangered animals in the country.”

    The series will be hosted by Bahar Dutt and will have episodes like ‘Storm in the Rann’ which will take viewers on a jeep safari through the Rann of Kutch and will show how pink flamingoes and Indian wild ass survive the harsh landscape of the desert.

    ‘Queen of Chambal will highlight the story of the endangered Indian Gharial and wildlife conservationists and activists who are fighting to save the Indian Gharial.

    ‘The Big Cat Special’ episode will be about big cats like the Tiger, the Lion and the Leopard. ”Turtle Trouble’ focuses on the beaches of Orissa which are home to Olive Ridley Turtles that are dying due to over fishing and developments along the coast. 

    Finally, ‘The Monkey Mania’ episode will introduce 13 new species of monkeys like ‘Hoolock Gibbon’ and ‘Golden Langur’ found in north east India.

    The first season of Citizens for Earth took viewers to six major destinations like Ladakh, Mumbai, Lakshwadweep, Goa, North East and the river Krishna that are under threat due to global warming.

  • CNN-IBN to scrutinise Indian airports in weeklong series

    CNN-IBN to scrutinise Indian airports in weeklong series

    NEW DELHI: CNN-IBN will launch its weeklong programme State of India’s Airports from 24 March, based on interviews of users – both commuters and pilots – of the largest and even some smaller airports, building an industry perspective into a public issue.

    The public interviews will be validated by a special CNN IBN-AC Nielsen survey to determine the Airport Satisfaction Index of regular airport users to identify the key areas of improvement and their level of satisfaction with Indian airports.

    The biggest and the best – the newly inaugurated, state-of-the-art Hyderabad airport – will be showcased alongside smaller ones, like Kochi, Coimbatore, Amritsar and Gwalior, which lie in shambles, officials from the channel revealed.

    One important question to be probed is why cities with killing air traffic, Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata, still have only one airport, and also, how is the privatisation attempt working out against claims like “You Awaiting a World Class Airport” seen in hoardings on the entry point of Delhi’s airports.

    While issues of civic amenities, hygiene, ease of getting luggage back and public utilities at the airports would be gauged from the people in general in the interview format, those of technicalities such as runway conditions, bird hit frequency, near-miss collisions, night landing will be understood from pilots and technical staff.

    “While India possesses the fastest growing aviation market in the world, with the number of passengers growing exponentially, the adequate infrastructure to support this growth is still lagging,” says a statement from the channel.

    The series will culminate with a special one-hour show on 29 March at 8 pm (repeat Sunday, 23 March at 12 pm) that will provide an in-depth look at some of the upcoming, “world-class” airports from around the country!

    “A massive project to expand, revamp and in some cases even build entirely new alternative airports in India’s biggest cities is presently in progress,” said top officials at the channel.

    While renovation work in Delhi and Mumbai is still underway, the new airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad are ready and in the case of the latter, been recently inaugurated.

    “CNN-IBN’s State of Indian Airports will not only look at these four big cities but also lay focus on some of the country’s smaller airports.”

    The weeklong newswheel stories will be substantiated by a nationwide poll conducted by AC Nielsen that will assess factors like the facilities available, user satisfaction, connectivity, quality of infrastructure, the pros and cons of privatisations

    “State of Indian Airports is intended to depict the public’s dissatisfaction with the current state of most airports in the country, their inability to cope with the increasing passenger traffic, show successful examples of smaller airports and raise debates on issues like why bigger cities cannot have multiple airports,” the channel says.

    “State of Indian Airports brings viewers a close glimpse of the real condition of some of India’s airports, both big and small. The poll results on the country’s best and worst airports will further validate the need to upgrade these epicentres of India’s booming aviation industry,” maintains CNN-IBN & IBN7 editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai.

  • IBN Lokmat set for launch by March-end

    IBN Lokmat set for launch by March-end

    NEW DELHI: IBN Lokmat, the upcoming Marathi news channel from the GBN-Lokmat joint venture company, is all set to launch by March-end.

    “We will be officially launching it between 16 March but before 1 April,” editor-in-chief Nikhil Wagle told indiantelevision.com.

    Wagle said that the existing 13 bureaux are fully functional and two more are being added. Four OB vans from the four key cities – Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad – will be used for the most “vibrant live coverage and programming.”

    “We are completely ready after the training by the American technological and editorial experts have done their work over the past few months, and this will give us the competitive edge,” Wagle held.

    He added that the channel has 13 leased lines from across the state, so that direct and live news content can be shown throughout the day.

    However, Wagle refused to disclose any programming or coverage pattern, saying: “Already there are many copycats who are getting half-baked information of the kind of programming we are going to do, and are copying them. I do not want to disclose the content beforehand.”

    Asked about the usual repeated show of violence that the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has been seriously upset with, Wagle said that if there is violence in society, it will be shown, but in a responsible manner, so that further violence is not fomented.

    Reminded that most channels had shown old footage of violence against north Indians during the Raj Thackeray arrest on 12 February, but without mentioning that those were old file photos, Wagle asserted that this will not be done in IBN Lokmat.

    “I do care for TRPs but I shall not stoop so low for TRPs that it gets away from serious but popular journalism, because that is what I have done in my 20 years of print and the past decade of television journalism. I believe that TRPs will come if one does serious and popular but highly credible journalism,” Wagle clarified.